My wife and I have not visited Universal Studios or Islands Of Adventure for over a decade (14 years to be exact). We were so young back then. It was close to Christmas and the festivities made the entire experience even more magical at all of these parks; ah the memories. Fast forward to the present. Now we have to deal with two young kiddos and introducing them to more of the Harry Potter world and various other franchises in these two theme parks.
It was another early start with early park admissions. Unlike Epic Universe, there was no hype security man at the front. We started our day with Islands of Adventure and made a B-line to Hogsmeade. There, the wife and I rode Flight of the Hippogriff while the kids waited with grandma. After that we just explored each area, getting on whichever ride the kids wanted to do.
After we circled Islands of Adventure, we took the Hogwarts Express to 9 3/4 station at Universal Studios. When my wife and I last came to this park, Diagon Alley was not available. So this was a new experience to all of us. Upon entering the alley the dragon at Gringotts breathed a breath of fire. That was pretty cool. But that was the last time we saw it as I am not sure if the park turned the dragon off as it was raining. We wasted at least 20 minutes just standing around. We went into Gringotts, but we did not ride. I guess it gives us a reason to come back next time.
We explored Universal Studios a bit more, but it started to rain. I am used to Orlando having sudden down pours and then everything will be sunny after 30 minutes (this was the case when we were at Animal Kingdom on this trip). But not this time. The rain continued throughout the rest of the day and night. We went to play the Villains “ride” and Brandon did not want to leave. He kept wanting to get back on and blast away the bad guys. After going a few more times, we decided to wrap up the day and head to CityWalk for dinner and call it a night.